​Hi Everyone,
 
I am Genevieve Rinzler, Jonathan’s wife, and I wanted to reach out to Jonathan’s readers, some of whom have heard that he is experiencing health issues.
 
This past summer, Jonathan had been feeling particularly exhausted; he was losing his appetite and consequently quite a lot of weight. Near the end of August, he was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. 
 
As you can imagine, or may know from personal experience, it has been quite an emotional and scary journey for our daughters, our respective families, our close friends and myself.  We didn’t think it was fair to burden Jonathan’s readers with such a dire diagnosis but, at the same time, it didn’t feel quite right not to talk about it. Finally it was Jonathan’s dear friend Brandon Alinger who suggested to us that extending the circle of people in the know to all of JWR’s readers was the right thing to do.
 
Jonathan’s condition is serious and still precarious, but he has improved since the August health assessment. As of November 15th, he has already received 4 rounds of chemotherapy.  We are confident that he is in good hands with the medical team at Kaiser and UCSF.
 
There are more details on the Caring Bridge site, where my brother-in-law Ben Rinzler — who has suddenly been promoted to scribe, chauffeur, and assistant to the wife/nurse (many hats and no pay!) — has been posting almost daily updates. The site is going to be open to all. 
 
I want to thank you all for the love that you have expressed over the years to JWR by letting him know how much you enjoyed his books.  For those who want to reach out, be certain that Jonathan will be uplifted to hear from you.
 
For those who want to help I’ll share this:
 
JWR’s writings about the creative process of movie-making has brought him a lot of joy. But All Up is even closer to his heart, a book about the genesis of the space age. It’s written as fiction, but it’s largely based on true stories, delivered in an exciting read. It’s the “making-of” book for the most outstanding scientific accomplishment of the last century. 
 
All Up is the story of how an unlikely web of horrible wars, crazy research, epic failures, fabulous means, and the dreamers—always the dreamers—all came together, over half a century, to allow humanity to break the bondage of gravity and travel beyond our planet. 
 
Our present century has its own visionaries who are going to help humans land on another planet — to make the dream of the giants who preceded them happen.  If our current progress is the manifestation of past generations’ collective dreams and desires, then its genesis matters to us. We would be wise to learn about it, to be sure that we take part in the next phase of this dream…
 
So at this point, you should all know where I am going with this: 
If you want to help and have something fun to read, for yourself or as a gift to a friend/loved one, I suggest purchasing All Up!
 
Younger folks will hopefully be inspired to live their life with a deeper understanding about how our species is often propelled toward great positive change while in the midst of chaos and uncertainty. 
 
And older people who remember watching the moon landing will be surprised to read about the series of coincidences and seemingly unrelated events that contributed to the birth of the Space Age. JWR connects the dots and molds history into a thrilling new tale! 
 
Finally, personally, I loved the book! 
 
Thank you so much for your support for all of these years.
 - Geneviève
  
Caring Bridge site:
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jonathanrinzler

Blog #1
  
While writing All Up, as I’ve done for all my books, I kept a running, dated chronology of my progress. I noted self-imposed deadlines, number of pages written, goals, and so on. It’s a way to set milestones, to keep to a schedule, to get the job done. My deadlines were reasonable but strict; I find myself a reasonable taskmaster. I do it because, otherwise, particularly for All Up, I would be toiling in a void-like purgatory. A structured schedule is a great way of remaining sane. It might not work for everyone, but does for me.
 
However, I never anticipated taking so long to write All Up. I underestimated the work and the research; I also ended up overwriting and had to spend months cutting things down. Yet it was all necessary. That was the “journey” (yes, an overused word) I had to take, and it was fascinating.
 
I offer these dates and the implied evolution to other writers and to anyone interested in one writer’s trajectory. It can be viewed as a cautionary tale or simply a nutty record of one man’s struggle with words and a cat (Stinky) that kept walking across the keyboard…
 
Thanks,
J. W. Rinzler
 
All Up, The Chronology
 
1962: Born. No intention of writing novels.
 
1969: Woken up by parents to watch moonwalk. Impressed.
 
2005: Visit Huntsville museum. See actual Saturn 5. Mind blown. Learn more about Operation Paperclip. Start playing with idea of writing a novel about first Space Age.
 
2005 to 2012: Idea gestates. Fear of not being able to do it. Write books on cinema, and a licensed YA novel about Indiana Jones (Indiana Jones and the Mystery of Mount Sinai).
 
That YA novel receives a very positive reader review on Amazon that makes me think I might be able to do a historical novel. Little did I know what was in store.
 
June 3, 2012: I start and, a month or so later, falter; work stops on novel.
 
February 19, 2013: I start again on All Up: Odyssey of the Rocketmen.
 
Spend roughly two hours a day for one year doing initial research for book while on bus commuting from Petaluma to San Francisco/Lucasfilm. Read dozens of books on Space Age, memoirs, bios, histories (see “Further Reading” on allupjwr.com or jwrinzler.com).
 
February 9, 2014: Complete 80,000-word rough research outline.
 
Begin work on turning that outline into rough draft (before/after day job): goal is to convert at least 5 pages of outline per day; 15 pages/week; 12 weeks to finish very rough draft.
 
May 2014: Late, but finish Very Rough Draft.
 
I give a chapter to my wife, Geneviève, to evaluate. Is it worth continuing? I always ask Geneviève to look at work that I’m not sure about; she is a natural editor. Gen says yes, continue.
 
I make a character list and divide book into five acts.
 
April 12, 2014: Begin writing “real” rough draft: two chapters/week; goal is to finish in 75 weeks, circa October 2015.
 
June 9, 2015: Ahead of schedule, finish Real Rough Draft; it’s approximately 276,000 words. I’m not worried about length. Big mistake.
 
June 19: Begin work on first draft.
 
November 28, 2015: FINISHED FIRST DRAFT.
 
December 21, 2015: Start second draft; novel still needs much work. (Note: During all of these early drafts, research continues.) Want to finish end of June 2016.
 
April 1, 2016: Finish second draft.
 
I give whole book to Geneviève to read and comment on.
 
April 25, 2016: Up till now I’ve worked, except for notes and miscellaneous, almost completely on laptop. I read and edit third draft on paper. Eyes and inner-ear read it differently on paper; important necessary step (for me).
 
Word count is dangerously high at 299,447; I still don’t care. Still big mistake.
 
July 23: Have incorporated my edits and Geneviève’s edits, and cut down word count to 259,603—third draft finished.
 
After more cuts, by August 26, 2016, fourth draft is down to 256,686 words.
 
I solicit criticism from readers—friends and family and professionals—about five of whom actually have time to read and comment.
 
Month or so later, better than expected feedback. I incorporate, make more changes.
 
September 29, 2016: Start looking for agent. This turns out to be one of the more frustrating experiences of my life.
 
October: Start what I’m calling fifth draft. (Date finished is unrecorded.)
 
May 8, 2017: With time between writing books on cinema, I decide to do a sixth draft. Geneviève re-reads whole thing. Word count now 231,808.
 
Still no agent.
 
October 8, 2017: On the advice of friend, I begin reading whole novel aloud, editing as I go. Makes a big difference to read out loud. Call it a seventh draft.
 
November 1,  2018: I decide to cut out Jack Parsons’ storyline; I can’t make it work in terms of Apollo 11; and there has been a lot of attention about Parsons, even a TV show; I’d be late to the party.
 
December 13, 2018: Major revision, more or less done. Novel now less than 160,000 words. Title shortened to All Up. Call it an eighth draft.
 
Wizard of Oz moment: I realize that the ideal agent has always been around: long-time family friend and veteran agent/publisher, Peter Beren.
 
April 2019: Beren masterminds solicitation plan; Permuted Press decides to publish All Up.
 
June 27: Start last polish/ninth draft; finish on September 30.
 
February 2020: Receive proofread version and re-read novel, making corrections and several simple but important improvements (tenth draft).
 
May 2020: Mind racked with existential problem: How can I explain to potential readers what kind of book this is in a few sentences—and get the word out? Marketing only goes so far.
 
Pray hourly…